Some design thoughts:

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Why is it that we prefer the foreign?

For example, within the rap hip-hop community, the desire to drive a “foreign”. A foreign as a foreign car, and if you think about it, almost all luxury goods are foreign, for example, all of the luxury fashion goods typically come from Italy and France.

Also, in terms of prestige, which literally just means magic trick or phantom, it seems that people prefer a BMW, or a Mercedes over an Asian car, whether Japanese or Korean.

For example, talking to my friend Josh White, him telling me a story of how Koreans in order to appear successful, will borrow their mother-in-law’s or aunts Audi, rather than just show up in a Hyundai ELANTRA.

But the funny thing is, at least for myself, I actually think a lot of the modern day Korean cars, especially the new Kia cars and Hyundai Genesis, actually look far superior to any modern day made German car. In fact, it looks like Mercedes and BMW are still trying to piggyback off their past legacy, when in the past, their cars were in fact were the supreme vehicles to own, because back then, Japanese cars were extremely unreliable and cheap, the same thing with Hyundai and Kia.

But nowadays, it seems that the only reason people would prefer to drive a German car is more for the brand-name and prestige. For example, let us consider Volkswagen, or the VW group. Essentially they own almost all of the prestige luxury vehicle brands, Ducati the high-end motorcycle, Audi, Lamborghinis, Bentley, Bugatti, etc. Porsche as well.

Leica camera?

Essentially after Leica camera went bankrupt, Andreas Kaufman bought it, an Austrian, and revived it, positioning it as a high-end luxury good. So now, even if we think about Leica camera, they are still trying to piggyback off of their brand legacy with Henri Cartier Bresson. Essentially, the only reason you would buy a Leica camera is because you want to become Henri Cartier Bresson, just like when people buy Michael Jordan sneakers, they want to become Michael Jordan. Or when people buy Yeezy sneakers, essentially they want to become Kanye West.

Same thing with people who buy a Tesla car. Essentially they want to become Elon Musk.

Why the preference for German design?

I think there tends to be a bias that Germans are more industrious, focused, brutal, no nonsense, efficient, intelligent, fastidious, etc. And for the most part, I consider this to be true. Having gone to Germany a bunch of times, and done a bunch of workshops in Berlin, etc., I really like Germans and German people. Even one of my favorite things was buying an ex military jacket at some random flea market in Berlin, which had the dominant German flag on it. I thought it looked really cool, but essentially I got pressured to get rid of the German flag, because nowadays, people consider individuals who wear clothing with German flags to be new-Nazis.

Also, I really love Bauhaus design. I first learned about the Bauhaus through studying Steve Jobs, who was also inspired by the Bauhaus. Even if you study a lot of Jony Ive designs, he borrows much from the Bauhaus school. Dieter Rams, etc.

How Americans are now on top

Let us consider, there is no electronic device or phone which is as desirable as an iPhone, iPhone Pro, etc. Even the most rich Chinese, Korean, etc. person would not be caught dead having a Xiaomi phone, a Huawei phone, or even a high-end Samsung phone. Everyone would prefer to have the brand new iPhone Pro.

Even apparently the CEO of Hyundai in the past was spotted being driven around in a Rolls-Royce or a Jaguar instead of a high-end Hyundai car. Not a good sign.

People don’t have pride in their own things?

Nowadays, nationalism gets a bad reputation. That is, if you have strong feelings towards your nation, you’re either seen as backwards, unintelligent, or some sort of fascist. However, I do believe that it is good for a nation to have some sort of healthy form of nationalism. For example, I like the idea of being nationalistic without being insane or hateful.

Therefore, I like the idea that an insanely successful Korean businessman in Korea would prefer driving the most expensive Hyundai Genesis out there, instead of striving to drive the Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes Maybach, etc.

In America, shouldn’t it be the same? That the most rich and successful Americans would aspire towards having the most expensive American made car, whether the Tesla model S plaid, Tesla model X plaid, or even a Ford muscle car? Or a Lincoln? Or a Cadillac?

Also with China, there are tons of new start up electric car companies from China. Faraday Future, Karma, etc. Perhaps a good aspiration is for the most rich Chinese elite to drive the most high-end elite Chinese vehicle, once again, instead of any foreign brands.

Cameras?

Currently, my favorite camera is the digital Ricoh GR 3X camera. It is made by Ricoh Pentax, a Japanese company. It is also built in Vietnam.

I have zero interest in any new Leica digital camera, regardless of price or newness. However saying that, I will keep and hoard my film LEICA MP until I die.

Technically, the most innovative digital cameras are American; iPhone, iPhone Pro, both for still photography and video photography, as well as GoPro, technically an American company, for their GoPro hero cameras. Some of my best and favorite videos that I’ve ever shot were on the GoPro hero, typically with the point of view perspective, and street photography etc.

Also, Google and their Google pixel computational photography deserves a big shout out. In my opinion, the photos that come out of the Google pixel are superior to any iPhone pro, yet their clumsy integration with Google photos is what makes it unappealing. The big game changer for Apple is there a deep integration with iCloud, and now their new direction with syncing the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook laptop even deeper together. Shout out to the Apple photos team. Currently speaking, I have zero interest in any Adobe Lightroom products, Apple photos is superior.

Chinese cameras?

Hasselblad is now owned by DJI, the popular Chinese drone and now video company. People apparently really like the new Hasselblad compact digital medium format cameras. I think it is great, and I still find it hilarious that these Chinese companies are trying to pretend to be something else; still pretending to be Swedish. The same thing with China buying out Volvo, and developing Polestar, pretending to be Swedish as well.

Why don’t these companies just have the courage to come out of the closet, and probably declare they are Chinese? I like the idea that in the future, “made in China“ will be seen as a luxury item.

And technically, when do you think about old Victorian American and English people, for the most revered guests, they bust out the “fine China”, which literally means rare dishware that comes from China, mainland China.

Innate in design is racism?

What is racism? Racism is essentially a hierarchy of the different races. For example, design racism is innately believing that Chinese design is inferior. Also, considering that German design is superior to Korean design. Also considering that Japanese aesthetics is superior to Korean aesthetics.

If I could create a current design hierarchy in the general sense it would be something like:

1. German design
2. Japanese design
3. Everyone else…

Perhaps the great innovation of Americans in American design is that they steal shamelessly, it was Steve Jobs who had the genius of blending both the Bauhaus and Zen minimalist design to create the iPhone. Do you remember how much of a uproar there was that iPhone only had one home button and no physical keyboard?

Also, it seems that Americans are better at handling criticism in the general sense. For example, people sent Steve Jobs so much hate mail when he first announced the iPad, considering that there were no external USB ports. Steve Jobs had the balls to stick to his guns, and he was right.

Self pride

What does it mean to be a barbarian? Essentially it was any individual who was not Greek. The Greeks saw themselves as the supreme race, and the only race. They saw any foreigner who was not Greek as a “barbarian”. There is also a funny theory that the word “barbarian“ comes from the notion that when Greeks hears other foreigners speaking their mother tongue, it sounded like “bar bar bar bar bar” to them, very much how Americans are Westerners will make fun of Chinese people as speaking “ching chong”.

Therefore my intervention is this: self pride, pride in your own race, nationality, etc., without stepping on the toes of others. And yes, I do believe that we are intelligent and advanced enough to have pride in ourselves which is not zero sum, which requires putting down of others to feel better about ourselves.

Even a big thing I’m trying to do is whenever talking about myself or Seneca or anyone else, to not use other people as a benchmark. Why? To be frank, I don’t really care too much about the kids of others, my great interest is focusing on Seneca, my son, my pride and joy. To compare him to others is to stunt his potential growth; he is incomparable.

Perhaps it is a good idea to also think of yourself as incomparable. Perhaps this is the big thought that could help you unlock your hidden potential.

ERIC

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Rabbit holes

1. Barbarian Wikipedia page

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Forward the thoughts!

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Ars long, vita brevis (art is long, will last long, whereas life is short) – Hippocrates via Seneca

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If you still have the passion to go out and make new photos, and keep on adventuring, consider yourself blessed.

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Something very interesting about being here in Hadong, in the Korean mountainside is this; everything is super optimal and supreme. What I meant to say is that it has the best weather, the best amount of sunlight, the best sleep (no annoying honking at night), and also grandma power, a.k.a. my mom.

Also, Seneca loves being here, throwing around rocks, going on little adventures with me, discovering new things in the forest, discovering new terrains, etc.

For myself, I also love it. I love the higher altitude and terrain, I loved insanely fast Wi-Fi at home, etc. Truth be told, there seems to be nothing lacking.

Then the question becomes; then what?

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PDF

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Thoughts move the world

Funny thing, I can do a video Vlog and upload to YouTube, and organically, it might only get five views. In terms of efficiency and reach, this makes no sense. However, I still like uploading to YouTube because I like the idea that somewhere, my videos can live on, almost indefinitely. Also, I like experimenting with creating more 4K videos, being able to harness insanely fast Wi-Fi at my mom‘s house. There’s a certain joy I have been enjoying watching certain videos I’ve shot on my GoPro at 4K at 60 FPS.

Also, even shooting 5K, and being able to upload that.

However, it seems that currently at least on YouTube, only 4K is displayed. That means that 4K is big enough, 5K and 8K will probably not render on YouTube.

Supreme mode of being

Compared to when I was in Seoul, my health and personal strength feels much higher here. I feel stronger, more motivated and inspired, and overall happier. As much as I love the city, even spending time on the Seoul subway, and shooting street photography, it does seem to be more efficient to just be here, being able to do quick walks uphill, mountain scenes, looking at the nice nature, and having interesting thoughts. For example, the moment I step outside my mom‘s minimalist millennial house, I can immediately do a quick walk over to the neighbors house, and enjoy their forest. Something about being surrounded by trees and varying terrain gives life to new interesting thoughts.

Power vs Strength

So the first thought I had today was this; seeking more power at the expense of anything. However, what is power? And also, what is the difference between power and strength?

For example, let us inspect man. Who is more powerful, the billionaire who is 40% body fat, and weighs 200 pounds and cannot even lift 100 pounds off the floor, or the powerlifter who looks like a Greek god, or a demigod, and can deadlift 800 pounds at 200 pounds, with 8% fat?

In modern-day society, for the most part, there doesn’t seem to be a real practical use of physical strength. In today’s modern world, money reigns supreme. That is, if you desire to become the most powerful man, it seems the most important metric is either your net worth, or how much US dollars you have in the bank. Zeros and commas.

However for me, I do not judge a man’s worth based on how much money he earns, or how much he has saved in the bank, etc. I am more impressed by people who have courage, whether mental courage, or physical courage, in the context of powerlifting and hypelifting, and also, the individuals who have the ability to skirt social norms.

For example, typically this is why I like engaging with entrepreneurs, because in order to become a successful entrepreneur, they had to overcome a lot of social pressures and norms in order to build their company and become successful. But at the same time, entrepreneurs are not enough. Physique and physical strength is also important to me. Even I saw a random interview with Peter Thiel recently, and it looks like he has a massive skinny fat beer belly now. At least it looks like Elon musk spends some time lifting weights.

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Not consumerism, but something else.

Another big thing I have reflected on and thought about about life in America, or just the state of global affairs; it seems that now everything is optimized towards buying things. For example, the insane amount of mind space which individuals make in terms of figure out which car to buy, which configuration, which color, etc. And it doesn’t even matter if you’re a billionaire or not, having to waste precious brain power on this seems to be inefficient.

Also, when it comes to health, there are too many superficial choices now. For example, does it really matter whether I use toothpaste which has fluoride or doesn’t? I think not.

Or technology; even for myself, excruciating annoyance that I experience when trying to buy a new phone or any new device, trying to optimize every single factor.

The downside of all this is that ultimately, what you decide to buy or not buy doesn’t really matter. For the most part it is superficial. It really doesn’t matter that much.

What matters more is the things you make and create and share. Your photos, your thoughts, your videos, your blogs your Vlogs, your art, your photos, etc.

How living in Vietnam was so beneficial

When me and Cindy lived in Vietnam for about a year, our mode of living was hopping between hotels, and small minimalist studio apartments. Even at our old Hanoi apartment, a brand new fully furnished studio apartment, I think we only paid $350 USD a month, Wi-Fi electricity and water included.

The big upside of all this wasn’t some sort of virtuosity, but rather, we could just focus on what mattered to us; making art, writing, thinking, playing and having fun. Cindy made a lot of great films, and also I came up with a lot of interesting philosophical turbo thoughts.

Even now being here in Hadong with Seneca, I am very very grateful and glad that Seneca has his epic 2-3 hour midday nap, which gives me a chance to just walk around and write out and dictate my thoughts, and end up sharing them with others. Even now, as I walk around the hills here with my iPad Pro, and using the built-in voice dictation to write out my thoughts in IA WRITER, I feel great.

So what’s next?

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Thinking more?

In some ways, thoughts are superficial. That is, thoughts without action are inconsequential.

Also, it seems kind of empty to have the strategy of just living here in Hadong forever, continually improving my health, and continually innovating and sharing turbo thoughts, videos and photos, etc.

I think what I am interested in is new experiences, new places, new environments. Because this is a big thing, whenever you are in the new environment, you have new types of thoughts. Also, whether we like it or not, we are a lot more affected by our environment than we would like.

For example, Americans tend to be very foolish in thinking that willpower alone can supersede any environmental issues. However, an individual will have a different mood and type of thoughts, depending on the environment and the weather, the climate and the altitude.

For example, you’ll probably be a lot more miserable being in Moscow in Russia during the winter time, than being in the beautiful spring in the Korean mountainside. Similarly speaking, for the most part I am much happier in Providence Rhode Island, than being in the dry Orange County suburbs.

Power for the sake of what?

Let us than assume that money is the metric for power. But then what? If you have $100 billion in the bank, what would you really want to do with it? Buy a bunch of companies, and buy a bunch of things, and change how the world is?

One of the very interesting and admirable things I think that Elon Musk did was he actually did use his personal wealth, in order to combat something he’s really cared for. That was, the soft censorship of the Internet, via Twitter and Jack Dorsey.

“Jack off the board!” -Elon Musk twitter

I have always admired Jack Dorsey, and I think he’s one of the greatest modern entrepreneurs of all time. However, it does seem that he had to compromise in order to make Twitter profitable. That is, change the Twitter algorithm and tweak it to maximize engagements, very similar to the Facebook news feed algorithm. I don’t think what Jack Dorsey did was bad or evil, he simply was trying to be a responsible CEO. Hopefully his next startup will be free from such considerations, it seems the best way to stay pure and honest is to never go public.

Not compromising

A very simple thought is that to compromise is both cowardly and it’s a sign that you are too chained to to your personal code of ethics. For example, when a CEO or leader has to compromise his or her vision in order to please shareholders, the stock price, etc., I think there is a lot of regret. For example, the guy who sold WhatsApp seems quite depressed about his decision. Also, I’m sure that Kevin Systrom is not happy that he sold Instagram either. As much flak as Mark Zuckerberg gets, at least he had the balls to not sell Facebook in the early days.

Why sell?

I think the pressure to sell your company in cash out is a combination of people not being philosophical or deep enough, and also people just following the traditional motive doing things:

1. Build up a company
2. Build up it’s user base and profitability
3. Make it appealing to the market
4. Go public, IPO, initial public offering
5. Make the stock price go really really high
6. Share a “reasonable“ amount of shares, and add that money to your bank account
7. Then use that money to either build other companies, to just live “off the grid,” etc.

The building is the joy

For me, arabeta.com, the Why app? my blog and my YouTube channel, etc., the joy is always having an idea which appeals to me, and seeing it come to fruition.

The difficult thing is maintenance. That is, for me to have the personal skills in the know how to actually do it myself.

For example, I do not know how to code, and it seems realistically speaking, I might never. As a consequence, it seems better for me to simply stick to what I can do, with no obstructions.

When to Archimedes lever, when to learn new things?

A simple thought I have is this; utilize your Archimedes lever as a publishing channel to innovate new things.

For example, my Archimedes lever is my blog, and now this email newsletter. Then, what seems to make the most sense is to best utilize my publishing platform, and inside of that, both create new ideas and share new ideas. Things that do not necessarily have to be in the realm of photography, or anything I’ve done in the past.

The power of going solo

A thought on my mind is this; why is it that Lisa from BLACKPINK does not just go off and start her own solo career? I think she will become the next Beyoncé.

Cindy and I made a joke, after watching so many LALISA practice dance music videos, and then seeing the new music videos with Lisa and the three other members. I asked Cindy as a joke, “who are those other people behind Lisa? Cindy laughed and said, “probably some random backup dancers.”

My personal theory is that Lisa is probably held to some sort of contract with YG entertainment, the holding group which controls the life and souls of the BLACKPINK members. That is, I am certain there’s a part of their contract which prevents them from just leaving, dating, doing anything without the approval of YG entertainment, etc.

But, I think sooner or later, once Lisa comes to her wits, and her contract expires, she might just go off and sign with some sort of American or Korean American company, and start her own thing. If she was very very intelligent, she would just become a solo entrepreneur, and just do everything in a more ghetto fashion, uploading stuff to YouTube for her fans, and becoming a full stack personality. Lisa could probably make a good living just getting donations from her fans, selling merchandise, or touring around, or even selling tickets to online shows.

Why this notion of building a company?

Truth be told, more difficult to be a solo trillionaire entrepreneur, with just yourself at the helm, then having a full company like Apple or Amazon.

A theory I have is this; most people who work in the tech industry are not radical solo individuals, but nerds, who are just really good at building stuff. Therefore, there is no thought to become solo, because that is not even a concept to them. There is more safety and peace of mind to be in a group or herd, than being solo.

For example, nobody has intuition anymore in Silicon Valley. For example, I am sure that the head designers at Google simply kowtow to the metrics of what gets clicked on more, and also Apple is trying to optimize the profitability, and simply feeding people new products which will sell well, and have a high profit margin.

Same thing with Amazon; now that Jeff BEZOS has left, it is more of a race to make things more efficient, faster, and ultimately, more profitable.

Even a bad trend I see with Kanye West and his Yeezy line, it seems that Adidas is taking more and more control, suddenly increasing the flow of products, the prices, etc. Instead of just having his products on his exclusive yeezysupply.com, a lot of the new “Adidas Yeezy sneakers“, are available directly on the Adidas website.

So what do you really want?

My personal goal is to keep on exploring, discovering new places, and also coming up with new ideas. Also, I aspire to keep making photos and sharing thoughts until I die at the age of 120.

I cannot speak for you. What you require instead is a frank and focused thinking process by yourself. Maybe it is a good idea to go off the grid for a few weeks, or just fuck off to a random country, and go super zen mode for a year or two.

Also check out WHY APP? to do it at home.

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No thought is final

There is no such thing as an ultimate immutable truth. Seeking this is creative and philosophical death. For example, if you did really discover a “theory of everything“, what motive would you have to keep on living and thinking?

Keep throwing rocks into the pond

Currently, Seneca‘s favorite activity in the world is picking up rocks of varying sizes, and throwing them into bodies of water. He loves to pick the rock, hold it, carry it over to the ledge, and then throw it into the water, and he laughs whenever he sees the ripple or the splash it makes in the water.

Maybe we could take a similar philosophy to life. That is, whatever we do in our lives is kind of similar. We like to pick up and throw things at varying sizes, and just see what happens.

ERIC

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Think with KIM

Do you want to turbocharge your thoughts? Invest in an upcoming ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE, and you’ll never be the same.

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What now?

1. Upload your favorite photos to arabeta.com, for honest feedback, and also contribute your thoughts to others.
2. Read some ZEN OF ERIC THOUGHTS

Think more, share more

Spend some more time thinking, and sharing and publishing your thoughts. You could do it super easy by just recording a Vlog of yourself sharing your thoughts on your phone, and directly uploading it to YouTube. Or, just post your thoughts to your blog, and share a link with friends and family who might be interested.

Google SEO approach, search engine optimization is this; create a website and blog which includes your first and last name, and whenever you write about a certain topic, create a title that you think others will search, in order to find more personal meaning in their lives.

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Sharing is caring, it can be fun!

If this was fun for you, feel free to forward this to a friend!

ERIC KIM NEWS

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New thoughts on https://youtube.com/@erickimphotography

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Sharing your screenshots is an intimate view on your life, and how you approach things.

Also, just share your workflow.

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PHOTOS

Using this lofty billionaire feeling, let me try to strive to make some immortal photo thoughts:

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What is photography?

The first question we must deal with is to define photography, or to at least try to discuss what it is, and why it is significant.

To me, photography is about making images which you consider beautiful and artistic. Not all the photos you shoot must be beautiful or interesting, or artistic, but the apex of our photographic pursuits as photographer-artists is seeking to create beautiful images in our own eyes.

Is there a such thing as an objectively beautiful image?

No. If you study the philosophy of aesthetics, it comes from the Greek “aesthetikos” which just means perception. However you perceive the external world is aesthetics.

Therefore, assuming you’re Stevie Wonder, and you’re blind, you will probably perceive the world in a different way, and also experience beauty in a different way. Or, depending on your life experiences, your gender, your sex, where are you live, etc., your notion of beauty will be different. Also depending on your age.

For example, if you are going through puberty as a hormonal teenage boy, your notion of what makes a beautiful woman is probably different than thinking about this in your 30s.

Also, much of aesthetics and beauty is based on your society and the corpus of literature knowledge and art with beauty. For example, if you look at old paintings which depict life in Korea or Japan, the notion of what makes a beautiful woman is very different than our modern notion of what makes a beautiful social media fitness star, Like Pamela Rief.

Also, the American notion of a beautiful woman in the 90s, like a Pamela Anderson, very very different than the members of BLACKPINK.

Also, the modern notion of male beauty through the K-pop group BTS is very different than the notion of beauty or masculinity in the 90s, like let’s say a 50 Cent.

What are you trying to do with photography?

The question you must address is this; trying to discover and pinpoint why you do photography, and what you want out of it. This philosophy inquiry is important, and this is why I invented the Zen of Eric or the Why app? Once you discover why you do something, it will give you a greater focus and direction in your life.

For example, I use photography as a tool to live a more adventurous and active life. Also, I have a strong passion for sharing information knowledge and inspiration with other photographers. Why? When I started off in photography, I was so confused and lost, and couldn’t really find any useful things on the internet to aid my journey. For example, no advice on how to conquer your fears of shooting in street photography, no advice on how to succeed as a photographer in the modern day world, and also, no real good resources on photography composition. And now, no real knowledge on a deeper purpose or philosophical inquiry on the why of photography.

Therefore, the knowledge I create and share it simply based on my personal curiosity, and also, striving to help other people who are similar to a past and present me.

What does it mean to make a “good“ photo?

To me, making photos which spark joy, gratitude, and wonderment in the world. Essentially, making photos which makes me happy.

In the past, my thought was trying to make an impenetrable photo, that nobody could criticize or critique, which would get lots of likes and favorites on social media. Now that I am no longer on social media, my pursuits have become much more zen; I am more interested in creating a stream of images, rather than single great images that will last forever.

Should I study the history of photography?

The biggest benefit of studying the history of photography is in order to gain more self-confidence and what you’re doing right now and today. For example, also a lot of studying the history of photography was useful to debunk notions, like the myth of the decisive moment, the bad idea that you cannot pose your subjects were interact with them, and also, discovering the inner motivation and inspiration from other photographers.

Starting my series Learn From the Masters of Photography was based on my personal curiosity of this; how can I draw from the streams of knowledge in the past, in order to augment myself as a photographer?

Also, a power thing. A lot of photographers often name drop other photographers to make you feel small. I find this to be a very cowardly thing; does my deep distain for anybody who name drops other photographers or other artist too much.

For example, if you want to judge or critique another photographer or artist, best to say what it is, then what it is not. For example, you don’t want to say something like “he’s not Henri Cartier Bresson but…” Also a bad thing is when people tell you that it reminds them of photographer X, Y, Z, and how it “has already been done before”. For example, if you want to start a New York City metro subway series, a lot of these insecure photographers will tell you, “yeah but you’ll never do it as good as Bruce Davidson.” But if you study the history of photography, you will know that there were a lot of people who shot the New York subway before even him. I think it was Walker Evans who even shot Street photos on the New York subway with a hidden spy camera.

Also, past experiences should not prevent us from attempting our own path. For example, can you imagine a budding artist who doesn’t try his or her take an abstract painting, just because Picasso and Matisse already did it? Or, Seneca doesn’t attempt to throw around rocks because other kids have “done it already before“?

Thoughts on social media

Social media is a trap. It is like getting a golden cage; and Mark Zuckerberg becomes your sugar daddy. Essentially, would you trade becoming castrated, getting your balls cut off, in order to get sponsorships, likes, followers, fame, and money? No. Even if somebody offered me $100 trillion, I would not cut off my balls.

Yet this is what happens. It is essentially the new modern Bed of Procrustes; you cut off your limbs in order to fit the algorithm, rather than the reverse.

So what is the best way to share my photos?

Another thing. Don’t be like these pseudo-woke photographers who say that they only shoot for themselves and never share their photos with anybody. This seems not only to be false, but a strange thought. No human would desire to live on a desert island by him or herself, even if they had all of the modern day luxuries, and an infinite amount of wealth. We humans like other humans, which is essentially the big takeaway from sociology. Humans would not want to live on Mars, if there are no other humans around.

There is a positive feedback loop; we enjoy making photos, and we enjoy sharing them with others. Knowing that other people can enjoy your photos brings us dinner joy, and we continue and repeat the process.

My simple suggestion is create your own self-hosted blog, with wordpress.org, and you disable all comments, statistics, views, etc. And you post your photos as you please, and you just share a hyperlink with your friends and family, or just email a link to your friends and family.

Think email and SMS (text messaging)

I always forget my login information, but I always remember my phone number. Also, even though email is a very inefficient mode of communication, it is in sense the most open and frictionless technology we got. For example, if you try to add somebody on Kakaotalk, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, even telegram, it is a big pain in the butt. Easier to just get their phone number and text them or call them, or just get their email and email them.

This is where I like the idea of creating and owning your own self-hosted email newsletter (Sendy.co). 99.99% of email newsletters are very annoying and just spam; I say, make your email newsletters as juicy tasty and delicious as well fried pork belly. Ideally with a side of kimchi on the side.

A simple way to approach it is this; send emails and email newsletters that you yourself would like to receive. Also, do not send things to people that you would not like to receive yourself.

Also, have you ever gotten an email newsletter from something or someone that you don’t remember signing up for? Don’t do that.

I have not yet figured this out, but I do like this idea where perhaps some sort of photography social media 5.0 could be based on SMS, text messaging, and the phone. Maybe some mash up of Apple iPhone iMessage, and SMS, and photos and videos. For example, I really enjoy sending photos of Seneca and videos of Seneca to friends and family using iMessage, which syncs well between my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook laptop.

Once you become a successful and famous photographer and rich, then what?

Once you get two Lamborghini rich, and you become famous, you’ve had the silo exhibition, you’ve published your book, you get spotted in public, etc., then what?

Most photographers never make it this far, but I have. Therefore, I could speak a little bit of my experiences based on my position.

Essentially what happens is that sometimes this can become a trap, the success trap. That the path in order to become successful and famous is what got you to the top, but in order to keep on ascending, you must innovate a new technique and path. The trap that a lot of successful people fall into is that once they’re at the top of the mountain, they just keep doing what they did in order to get to the top of the mountain, rather than innovating a new path.

And this is the tricky thing with entrepreneurship, even like Peter Thiel said in his book Zero to One. The next trillion dollar company will not be an Amazon, Facebook, a Tesla, etc. But something else.

Therefore, can you “teach“ entrepreneurship? I believe so. They are pretty much based more on basic principles, like risk-taking, risk aversion, being scrappy with less, etc. This is where I also like to study the Titans of the past, in order to give me more motivation and courage to attempt strange new paths. Also, hearing the real life story of past entrepreneurs is useful because it helps you understand that most successful entrepreneurs didn’t have access to unlimited manpower, wealth, resources, etc. Essentially The founding of Google was two nerdy guys in a college dorm, using scrap computer parts, and stealing the broadband Internet connection from the Stanford campus. Today, if you put a SergeyBrin and a Larry page inside of Y Combinator tech accelerator, they would not create something quite as epic as Google.

Chart a new path

And just follow your intuition and your enthusiasm. Don’t do what bores you, only do that which excites you. I think this is the big motivation that drives a lot of my experimentation with the GoPro, point of view videos, and also experimenting with different resolutions like 5K, 4K, etc.

And the thing is this; the journey is the way. That means, photography is a continuum; as long as you’re alive, breathing and making photos, consider yourself blessed.

ERIC

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Design on my mind

1. I really like the New McLaren SOLUS concept. That is, the best car and ideal car is the most similar to a Formula One car, just one seater. No need for a spare guest. also, the very interesting thought that video games can in fact spur and spark innovation. Even a lot of my analogies on real life come from Diablo two, or StarCraft.
2. A parenting thought; it isn’t the iPhone, iPad, or laptop which is evil; it is probably YouTube and YouTube kids. I like Seneca being able to watch past videos I’ve shot of him either on my GoPro or iPhone SE. He also find it hilarious to use the Animoji function; I think it is actually a very fun creative thing.
3. More people should do a rock toss type of work out; why? Even though you cannot adjust the weight of the rock, you could do it with greater force, which is not only fun but interesting. I consider it much more playful than churning out hateful reps at the gym. Might even be more fun than doing deadlifts.
4. Another very fun thing to do is hill sprints. That is, find the steepest slope or hill that you could find, get some Vibram five fingers shoes or barefoot, and sprint up as quickly as possible. Only do this if this is fun and interesting to you, it is not really a work out, just a fun activity.
5. Just get a GoPro. That is, I think the GoPro is at least 1 trillion times more creative than having an iPhone, or even the newest iPhone Pro. Why? The GoPro is far more robust, Seneca has thrown it around the last six months and it works just fine. Therefore, it makes you less risk averse; people nowadays, even rich Silicon Valley folks, always baby their iPhones, and now iPhone Pros. The biggest flex is actually probably having a brand new iPhone Pro, no case, and allow it to get all scratched up and banged up. This is the same flex of owning a Rolex with scratches, four, a brand new Leica M camera that has dents and dings. I suggest getting either a head mount, for a chest strap, and experiment doing Ultra Wide point of view videos. I think this is the next generation of creative content for the Internet; it is probably the easiest and most direct path to directly share your perspective and experiences and thoughts.
6. If you can, get an insanely fast Wi-Fi connection. I think this is probably the biggest Archimedes lever you can get in terms of augmenting your ability to produce more with less friction.
7. Currently, the least bad camera is probably the Ricoh GR III, RICOH GR IIIX. However, if you want to go further, then what? I think it is having a compact digital medium format camera, whether the new Hasselblad XD2 or the Fujifilm GFX 50S mark ii. I would just probably shoot extra small JPEG on that; because you will get the resolution and the dynamic range of digital medium format, without having to deal with these friendly massive photos. More megapixels, more problems.
8. Would you want to be the billionaire living at the top of the mountain, with no human contact? Probably not. We still love and enjoy society.

New vlogs

1. Billionaire mountain thoughts
2. Innovative thoughts
3. Why innovate?

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